Originally published at: $30,800 all-mechanical timepiece that mocks the Apple watch | Boing Boing
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I think the only parody here is on the person who spends $30k on a mechanical watch that mimics an Apple watch that will be redesigned and dated looking in the next minute or two.
Too many of the wrong people have too much of the money.
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Maybe they were hoping Larry Page or Sergey Brin would buy one.
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I hope anyone who has the money to spend on a $30,000 watch also spends some of their spare thousands on helping the homeless and saving endangered animals.
But that’s just me.
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Don’t have 31 grand to blow. Wouldn’t blow 31 grand on a watch if I had 31 billion. Don’t like the aesthetic of the Apple watch. But I salute their commitment to trolling Apple.
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Agreed. The commitment is strong in this one.
(Had to asterisk that word. It’s got an automatic flag on it, for me.)
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For $30,800 I would need to be a lot more certain about who was mocking whom.
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I think the working class watch makers who are getting paid CHF 30 per hour (barely a living wage) to hand assemble those parts would disagree with you. Watch making is a way to take money from people who don’t need it and give it to people who need jobs in rural areas of Switzerland.
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yes, but it’s the APPLE products that are expensive.
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Good timing - there are some people who like trolling billion-dollar corporations sitting on piles of new $GME money
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I’ve long thought I would like to see an art exhibit that featured items of this nature, although more explicitly trolling throwaway culture (which has application to Apple). An eternal flame that is a six foot high sculpture of a BIC lighter, but made of marble and steel, that sort of thing. I see people aghast of spending 30,000 $ for a watch but remember, many people make their living off selling this or similar frivolities to rich people. Separating rich people from their money in this fashion will leave them less to oppress the rest of us with, right? If we restrict ourselves to making goods or selling services that appeal to gentle sensibilities then there really wouldn’t be enough work to go around, would there? 
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I hope they got Anish Kapoor’s permission.
Also, I have to wonder about the price point.
“No one will pay $31,000 for this watch!”
“Hmmm, let’s make it $30,800.”
“Brilliant!”
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Perhaps it makes sense in swiss francs or euros and the price in US Dollars depends on the exchange rate.
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Yes, damn it! But my fake conversation is funnier!
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For $308,000 I am offering a perfect replica of a Casio F-91W vintage watch from 1989. No tell-tale gears, springs or ticking to give it away. Only you will know how much you spent, until you brag about it.
For a special introductory time, I will sell it for $408,000. Act now, supplies are limited.
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Honestly, if someone was able to replicate that mechanically it would almost be worth the price.
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H Moser does at least one other gag watch; this one combines all the trendiest high-end watch designs into one awful-looking watch.
But that’s the joke, it’s saying that the designs are of dubious taste to begin with, and that chasing trends is as ridiculous as this watch looks.
The Swiss Icons watch appears to be intended as a parody of incrementalism of much Swiss watch design overall. A unique piece, the Swiss Icons watch has the bezel of a GMT Master II shoehorned into a Royal Oak shape, a dial that’s a mashup of Panerai and Patek (the Nautilus) a Hublot case, a Panerai-esque crown guard, and a tourbillon under a Girard-Perregaux type golden bridge.
The Swiss Icons watch is a clear indication that Moser intends to continue its strategy of being something of an industry enfant terrible. Of course, the company continues to make its own range of high-end timepieces, but the Swiss Icons watch, along with the Swiss Alp Watch, are very broad and direct swipes at clearly recognizable targets.
the prices are stupid but it’s the same with any other luxury good. H Moser and the watches they parody are for the market for whom Rolex is considered base and cheap.
But also, there is a centuries-long tradition of novelty luxury watchmaking, including stuff like full-on x-rated scenes animated by the clockwork. so there’s a big context of horological jokes that the mock-apple watch fits into.
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